Trump to sign new executive orders on environment, energy this week

Executive orders
President Trump is expected to sign three executive orders next week which will clear the path for more energy development. CNN photo.

Executive orders would make it easier to develop onshore, offshore energy

President Donald Trump will sign executive orders later this week which will be on energy and the environment, making it easier for the US to develop energy on and offshore, according to a White House official on Sunday.

 

“This builds on previous executive actions that have cleared the way for job-creating pipelines, innovations in energy production, and reduced unnecessary burden on energy producers,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

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According to Reuters, the president is expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday related to the 1906 Antiquities Act.  Under the act, the president can designate federal areas of land and water as national monuments to protect them from development.

In a summary of the forthcoming orders which has been seen by Reuters, the Trump administration says past US governments have “overused” the Antiquities Act and have put more federal areas under protection than necessary.

During the previous administration, President Obama designated over 1.6 million acres of land in Utah and Nevada as national monuments, which protected the two areas rich in Native American artifacts from mining, and oil and gas drilling.

Following up on Friday, President Trump is expected to sign an order to review areas available for offshore oil and gas exploration as well as rules governing offshore drilling.

So far in his presidency, Trump has signed a number of executive orders on energy and environment which would effectively gut most of the climate change regulations put in place by former President Barack Obama.

Towards the end of the Obama presidency, he banned new drilling in some parts of federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans by using a 1950s-era law that environmental groups say would require a drawn out court challenge to reverse.

During the January confirmation hearing of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, he said President Trump could “amend” former President Obama’s monument designations, but a move to rescind a designation would be challenged immediately.

Last month, Trump signed an order which called for a review of the Clean Power Plan and he also reversed a ban on coal leasing on federal lands.